The First Step
by 99terminater
Summary: All I wanted to do was find my friends; saving the worlds with the one idiot who DIDN'T disappear who-knew-where wasn't exactly part of the plan. As for how Sora managed to meet a humanoid dog and duck, I'll never know. Now I guess we're just stuck killing any Heartless we see and hoping we might run in to Kairi and Riku -or this "King"- while we're at it. KH I oc-insert/ oc-PoV
1. The Dream

**Oh, hello! This is my second story (technically fourth, but-) here on FF, and, as you can see, is for Kingdom Hearts. Now, a few** warnings **before we start: An OC (which isn't many people's cup of tea) is the narrator/focus character of this series, and she _will _be treated as if she were a main member of the cast (she will also get a keyblade, and she's Kairi's step-sister); Violence will occur, and it won't be treated as lightly as it is in the games, since, well, it's Real Life in-universe; there will be cursing, if only because Kaen (the OC-narrator) has a bad temper.**

**Anywho, I hope you guys enjoy and stick around for future chapters!**

**The Kingdoms Hearts series and all characters therein belong to their respective owners. I only claim ownership to any and all oirginal characters, objects, scenes, events, and writing/dialogue not shown or present within the original series.**

* * *

How can you be so sure of what's _real?_You don't know you're not right until you're proven wrong, so...

How do you know it's true?

How do you know it's not _wrong?_

_When my eyes shot open, I was standing on the edge of the beach at the play island. I blinked repeatedly, raising a hand to block the sun from my eyes. The familiar smell of saltwater filled my nose, and I looked down just in time to see the water suddenly recede. My head snapped up, and I was about to run to higher ground when I saw the silver-haired figure standing out in the water.__  
_

_"Riku!" I screamed, rushing forward even as the water slowed me down. I kept looking back and forth between the water's surface as I struggled to hurry without loosing my footing, and Riku as I waiting for the first wave of the tsunami._

30 feet. _I moved as fast as possible, soles scraping against the sea floor._

20 feet. _Riku looked over his shoulder, while my legs started to burn. I wanted to call him again, but my lungs were on fire.__  
_

10 feet. _He turned around, face calm as he reached out a hand.__  
_

_The water started to rise behind him._

_"_RIKU!_" My throat literally burned, and panic made my heart pound as the wave engulfed him._

_I didn't even have time to think before it crashed into me.__  
_

_The force knocked the wind out of my chest, and I managed to keep my mouth shut after swallowing a mouthful of water, struggling not to choke as the salty liquid entered my lungs.__  
_

_I dug my heels into the sand, bending over to keep myself from being swept away with the current. I peeled my eyes open, just enough to see the blurry shape of a hand.__  
_

_I pushed my arm forward, the turbulent water threatening to snap it back the second I lightened the force. It was hard, and my feet started to slide backwards, but soon enough my fingers hovered over his palm and —_

_A second wave crashed down._

_My shoulders were slammed into the sea floor, and I skidded for a second before starting to tumble and roll backwards through the water, gaining scrapes and cuts the entire time._

_I was dizzy from the lack of oxygen, and a black haze bordered my vision, but I could still feel when the water suddenly slowed._

_I pushed myself up with my hands and quickly shoved my feet down as hard as I could._

_My head broke through the water's surface, and immediately I started coughing and gagging from the sudden source of air. I retched up the seawater from earlier, and my knees nearly buckled underneath me._

"_Hey, Kaen!" the call of my name was quickly followed by a joyous mix of giggles and laughter._

_I looked up to see my sister –Kairi– bouncing on the balls of her feet as she waved at me, beckoning me to come over. Next to her was Sora, his hands behind his head as he grinned in that goofy way of his._

_I straightened and smiled, raising an arm in a wave before I started the trudge to shore._

_They both smiled widely when I reached them, only for their expressions to morph into ones of horror as they noticed something over my shoulder._

_I quickly turned around, only to see a meteor shower up in the sky. I didn't get what was wrong until I noticed it – falling down, right along with the meteors, was a _person.

_Suddenly I felt my feet lift off the ground, like I was flying, but then I slowly flipped around. I was falling, farther and farther down surrounded by burning pieces of rock, getting closer and closer to the ocean below._

_I crashed through the water's surface, and from high above and still on dry land Kairi and Sora were bent over, screaming down at me with inaudible voices._

_I only kept falling, deeper and deeper and deeper…_

_I was relaxed, I was calm, and, soon enough, my eyes slid shut._

_I didn't sleep, but I was in a peaceful state where it felt like I could've been. Who knew? Maybe I really was sleeping._

_There was the flutter of many birds' wings, and after that a bright light that turned the insides of my eyes red._

_My eyes slid back open, and I was standing on my own two feet again. Only the floor beneath me wasn't a floor._

_It was a large, circular platform that looked as if it were made out of stained glass. It was green in tones, but down the middle was the figure of a sleeping girl with pale skin, black hair, and a flowing yellow dress with a blue corset._

_Scattered around her head were seven circles, each containing a face of an almost comedic looking man, though a few looked to be young boys. Close to the border of the platform was a ring of circles, all of them with some forest creature inside._

_I blinked repeatedly, the glow from behind the stained glass hurting my eyes. I looked up at the sky, only to find it was pitch black._

_I twisted around, eyes flicking in every direction, only to find everything _except_ the stained glass was completely dark._

"_So much to do, so little time…"_

_I jumped at the voice, head whipping around as I tried to find the source. Except, it sounded like it was coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time – as if it was echoing back and forth across the shadows surrounding the platform._

"_Take your time. Don't be afraid." It said soothingly, only serving to make me nervous even though I hadn't been before._

_Just _what_ was I supposed to be afraid of?_

"_The door is still shut."_

What _door? Why was it shut? Was it a bad thing? Was it a _good_ thing? A million questions ran through my head, but every time I started to ask one the words died on my tongue._

"_Now, step forward. Can you do it?"_

_I looked around at the blank sky for a second, as if the voice's owner would suddenly show itself. I quickly shook my head before walking over to the center of the circle, calming myself with the methodic tapping of my shoes against the glass._

_Suddenly, spaced evenly across the edge of the platform, three pedestals rose from the glass simultaneously following brief glows of light._

"_Power sleeps within you. If you give it form… It will give you strength."_

_As if its words were a cue, small pillars of light flashed above the pedestals before disappearing – one left behind a sword, another a shield, and the last a staff._

"_Choose well."_

_With that, it left me in complete silence._

_I slowly turned around, thoughts speeding in and out of my head as I quickly pieced together what each item represented. The shield was obviously defense, the sword was offense, and the staff was…_

Magic?_ I thought in surprise, eyebrows shooting up as I remembered all the games the four of us had played since we were little kids._

_I let out a deep breath of disbelief, sending the staff a look of exasperation before I shook my head and strode over to the sword. _

_I hesitated for a second, arm stretched towards it halfway, before reaching forward and grasping the short sword by its blue hilt._

_"__The power of a warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction. Is this the power you seek?" The voice asked._

_I quickly nodded, and the sword disappeared in a flash of light._

"_Your path is set." It said, but I wasn't worried._

_I was only determined._

_I'd have the power to protect the ones I cared about – the courage to face the things that would hurt them and destroy them before they'd be able to._

"_Now what will you give up in exchange?"_

_I stiffened, eyes widening in shock._

Now what will you give up in exchange?

_I swallowed and looked over to the shield, only needing one glance before I quickly walked over to the staff._

_"__The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin. You give up this power?" The voice asked again._

_I nodded, and this time it was the staff that disappeared in a flash of light._

_"__You've chosen the power of the warrior. You've given up the power of the mystic. Is this the form you choose?"_

_I felt an eyebrow rise at the term "form," but nodded anyway._

_The platforms, again with a glow of light, sank back into the stained glass. There was a series of cracks, and at the edge of the platform the glass was starting to break apart into fragments._

_I whirled around, quickly noticing that it was slowly breaking faster and faster, but by the time I started to run the glass below me had already shattered._

_The wind whipped at my hair and clothes, and it made tears form in my eyes. Then suddenly, my feet collided with something __hard__, and my knees buckled and slammed against the stained glass._

_I bit back a groan and slowly pushed myself to my feet, ankles throbbing as I examined the second platform._

_There was another sleeping woman, this one with blonde hair pulled up and wearing a pale blue ball gown. The circles around her head depicted what appeared to be the white silhouette of a castle, with the majority of the stained glass colored in shades of violet._

_There was a flash of light out of the corner of my eye and my right arm felt a few pounds heavier. I looked down to see the sword from earlier in my hand._

_"__You've gained the gained the power to fight." The voice told me, and I couldn't help but cross my arms as best as I could and send the black sky a __You have __got__ to be kidding me, __look._

_Only more silence._

_I scowled and unfolded my arms, jostling the sword in my hand as I tested the weight. I slashed it through the air a few times, silently measuring the strength behind it and the pull from the blade._

"_All right you've got it!" the voice cheered, and I nearly snapped at it for acting like I was stupid. "Use this power to protect yourselves and others." With that, though, I couldn't help but straighten and grin smugly – that was _just _what I intended to do._

_"__There will be times you have to fight. Keep your light burning strong."_

_Shadows suddenly appeared on the platform, before starting to actually seep up and away from the glass. The creatures were a few feet tall with vaguely humanoid, pitch black bodies. Each of their hands had three claws while their spherical heads bore two, long twisted antennae and completely round, glowing yellow eyes._

_One by one they started to lunge, only to be knocked away with a quick hit from my sword. Interestingly, after only two or three hits the shadow creatures actually disappeared._

"_Behind you!"_

_I spun around on my heel, both hands gripping the hilt as I twisted to slash the shadow that disappeared only a few feet away from my face._

_I swallowed and raised a hand to rest above my heart, both hearing and feeling it pound at a fast pace._

_My feet felt heavy, like something was pulling at them, and when I looked down I saw that the platform was slowly being covered by wide, black pools of… _something.

_Like the one under me._

_I struggled, pulling at my feet but doing nothing as I sank in the pool to ankle-depth and continued to sink deeper. I tried to jerk my legs up, maybe slip off my shoes, but it didn't do anything except make it harder to keep my balance._

_I tipped back and forth, nearly hyperventilating from panic, only to feel myself lean backwards. I cried out, trying to stay upright, but even then I fell down and my back was stuck in the pool._

_I tried to get up, tears gathering in my eyes as I tried to keep from screaming. I kept sinking deeper and deeper, the black liquid thick and cool but at the same time thin and hot._

_I couldn't pull away, couldn't pull out. I could only wait as the liquid slowly crept up my neck with my eyes clenched shut and tears streaming down my face._

_When my eyes opened again, I realized I was standing on another platform made of stained glass._

_There were three silver heart outlines placed in a triangular arrangement, each one with a pale blue silhouette of a woman and a background made up of various shades of pink that matched the rest of the platform. The area between the hearts was a light teal, each third split in half by elegant pink lines that swirled at the ends._

_And, at the other end of the platform, was a tall, pale door._

_I walked over to it with long strides, hand already reached out when I realized it was transparent. When I tried to touch it, my hand only passed through it, like it wasn't there._

_I frowned, confused, as I let my arm drop and turned around._

_My eyebrows immediately shot up when I saw the chest appear in the middle of the platform with a sparkle of light. I jogged over to it and quickly bent over so I could flip it open._

_It was empty._

_I huffed, straightening when the chest disappeared in a flash of light. Suddenly a large crate appeared and I jumped back, stifling a shriek as it nearly crushed my feet. _

_I swallowed and rounded my shoulders back, glowering at the wooden container as I poked it harshly with the sword, making it slide back._

_There wasn't anything underneath it, which only left the inside._

_I stepped forward and carefully wedged the sword in the small gap between the right side and the front. I dug my heels into the glass and gripped the hilt was both hands before yanking it hard to the left._

_The side came half off with a groan from the wood, the long and sharp nails showing themselves. I readjusted my grip and turned to the side before I shoved my body weight against the sword._

_The side of the crate snapped off, another, louder groan coming from the wood before the rest of the crate collapsed in a flurry of splinters and nails before the wreckage in its entirety disappeared as it was kicked up into the air._

_I gawked at the space where the crate had just been, feeling my eye twitch at the fact the entire structure had just _collapsed_ on itself after I'd only removed one side._

_I shook my head and took a step back only for my foot to bump into something with a soft _ping_. Eyebrow raised, I quickly scooped down and picked up the glass jar, examining it._

_The glass was clear, and sealed with a pull-out, glass cork was a bright green liquid that filled the jar halfway._

_A potion._

_I looked at the potion for another second before sliding it under the short purple scarf tied around my hips and into my pocket._

_When I turned around I noticed the apparently white door had become solid. As soon as I took one step towards it, the doors snapped open by themselves to reveal a bright light that had me shielding my eyes._

_I slowly shuffled into the light and through the door, the light fading. When I lowered my arms, I found myself at the play island again._

_Specifically, the wide, bridge-like structure between the smaller of the two large trees – though both were meters wide and the smallest of the pair was around five stories tall._

_Standing around were Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka, other kids from the island, though we weren't that good of friends._

_"__Hold on." The voice said, and I swore it almost sounded amused, though I could've been imaging it. "The door won't open just yet. First, tell me about yourself."_

_At that, I grimaced, feeling my eye twitch. So a strange, disembodied voice that seemed to be home at a place that was nothing but solid-black darkness and stained glass platforms depicting sleeping women wanted me to __tell it__ about myself._

_Ick. Talk about beyond creepy._

_I swallowed nervously and walked up to Selphie._

"_What's most important to you?" she asked curiously, head tilted to one side._

"_Friendship," I said, blinking at the obviousness of it._

"_Is friendship such a big deal?" she wondered aloud. As soon as I opened my mouth to snap that _yes_, it _was_ such a big deal, I felt my stomach twist at how I always seemed to be second-best to my sister._

_How I wouldn't have made any friends if Kairi hadn't dragged me with her one day after we'd first arrived at Destiny Islands to meet Sora and Riku. _

_How tons of kids would've continued to make fun of me and talk about me behind my back if she hadn't asked them to stop with her almost naïve kindheartedness that would make _anyone_ feel guilty._

_I swallowed, throat tight, before I slowly shook my head and walked over to Tidus._

"_What are you afraid of?" Tidus asked, eyes locking on to mine._

"_Being different," I blurted out, my hand immediately shooting up towards my mouth as I realized that that was _actually _true._

_Being different meant being ostracized, with no one wanting to be _anywhere_ near you, ever._

_It meant being completely alone, with no one who'd stand by you._

_No friends, no real family, just _you _all by yourself._

_Feeling my face heat up in embarrassment, I quickly hurried over to Wakka for the last question._

"_Being different? Is that really so scary?" Tidus called after me._

No, _I thought to myself as I stopped in front of Waka, _But being _alone_ certainly is.

_"__What do you want outta life?" he asked me, making me pause._

_What __did__ I want? I never really cared much for meaningless luxury, and I __hated__ the idea of being famous, but…_

_I __did__ want to protect the people I cared about._

_"__To be strong," I answered confidently, straightening._

_Whether it was emotionally or physically, you couldn't protect anyone if you weren't strong enough to protect yourself._

_"__To be strong, huh," Wakka sounded uninterested, like it was the most boring thing in the world to want. I immediately bristled, glowering at the redhead._

"_You want friendship." I looked up at the sky as the mysterious voice rang out from nowhere. "__You're afraid of being different. You want to be strong. Your adventure begins at midday. Keep a steady pace and you'll come through fine. The day you will open the door is both far off and very near."_

_I felt myself frown at the mention of the door again – just __what__ was so important about it?_

_Before I could really ponder on it, there was another flash of bright light that left me blinking rapidly as I was left standing on yet another stained glass platform._

_The sleeping woman had long blonde hair this time, and an off the shoulder purple gown with her hands raised to clasp a red rose. The majority of the platform was in shades of red, and green vines crawled out of the background to wrap around the patterns in the glass._

_More of the shadow creatures before started to surround me, but it only took a couple seconds to destroy all of them. Though, I was willing to bet I had more than a few bruises starting to form._

_The second the last one dissipated, a beam of light came down and formed a small circle in the center of the platform. When I walked forward to stand on it, the beam moved toward the edge of the platform before disappearing._

_In front of where the light disappeared, an unusually wide step made of multicolored glass appeared in the middle the air. One by one more steps popped up until there was a long, rising trail of colored glass._

_As I climbed the steps, I couldn't help but look around in awe. Even though it was still pitch black everywhere except for the glass, it just felt so much _different_ from before._

_When I saw the next platform, my heart skipped a beat and a grin split my face. While I'd assumed the platforms were just floating disks, they were actually _massive_ pillars that rose out of the endless blackness. Down the sides of the platform was more stained glass, just like the narrow windows in a church – only _much _longer._

_I spun around, able to see from this height and angle that similar strips of stained glass went down the last platform._

_I turned back around and I climbed up the rest of the steps until I reached the next platform._

_The woman in this platform had her long brown hair half-up, and was wearing a yellow ball gown that matched the majority of the platform. The circles around her head depicted a rose in a case, and what appeared to be personified household items. Next to the woman was a profile of a large brown beast with horns that, unlike almost all the other characters shown on the platforms, was awake._

"_The closer you get to the light," the voice said as I started to walk towards the center of the platform. "The greater your shadow becomes."_

Shadow?

_I whirled around, seeing that not only had the glass steps from before disappeared, by my shadow had grown, stretching all the way to the end of the platform._

_Then it started to actually lift up and away from the glass, like the shadow creatures from earlier had done, and I carefully edged farther and farther away from it. It morphed into a very large, all black version of me, and I hurriedly walked backwards as fast as I could without tripping – who knew what it would do if I turned my back._

"_But don't be afraid."_

_As if to prove it wrong, the shadow started to morph. Its shoulder-length hair morphed into a mass of twisted tentacles, its eyes now glowing yellow spheres. It was extremely muscular, with short legs and long arms that ended in claw-like fingers. And, straight through its abdominal area, was a huge heart shaped hole._

_I spun on my heel and ran, only to have to stop dead in my tracks when I reached the edge of the platform._

_I slowly turned around, chest heaving, scared to the point I felt like screaming and crying until I realized something. My gaze fell to the sword in my hand, before going back to the massive shadow creature._

How could I protect the people I cared about if I couldn't protect myself?

_I clenched my jaw and braced my stance, gripping the sword with both of my hands until my knuckles turned white._

"_But remember…" the voice said, as a mass of darkness and shadow started to swirl around the creature's hand._

_Its arm pulled back before it bent over and slammed its fist into platform so hard it shook. My legs shook and I nearly toppled over, but instead I took deep breaths before letting out a yell as I ran straight toward its hand._

_The sword slid through the air before slicing through the creature's flesh – so sharp there was barely any resistance. As soon as the first strike ended, I was already shifting my body to cut the beast again. I got maybe half a dozen deep, long gashes into its arm before the darkness dissipated and it straightened, spine bending backwards._

_I quickly ran backwards to the other side of the platform, just in time to see a writhing body of purple energy form in the middle of the heart shaped hole._

_Smaller spheres started to shoot out of it, rocketing towards me like missiles. I ducked under the first sphere as it whizzed past my head, twisting around to dodge the second right after._

_It was after I had to run out of the away from a third sphere when I took notice that its arms were dangling down near its feet. I quickly ran towards it, jumping over another sphere as I raised the sword over my head with both hands._

_I brought it down as hard as I could, cutting through flesh as the movement had me bending under a sphere that flew over my back._

_I spun around on my feet to avoid another set of spheres before I rushed back over to slash at the hand again. I jumped back when a sphere sped past my face, and then I realized the creature was straightening back out and I quickly ran back to gain distance from it._

_Its fist was surrounded by the dark energy again, and this time when the platform shook my stance stayed strong._

_I ran forward again, all the fear from before gone, and brought the sword down on the hand again and again._

_I jogged away as it stood, ready for the spheres, when suddenly there was a flash of light and my arms felt lighter._

_My sword was gone._

_Panic quickly replaced the confidence, and I hurried backwards until it suddenly felt like my shoes were filled with lead and I toppled onto my back. I bit back a groan and tried to push myself back onto my feet, when I noticed another black pool forming beneath me._

_Tears gathered in my eyes again, and I yanked at every muscle I could move in an attempt to escape as I just sank deeper and deeper._

_"__You hold the mightiest weapon of all." _

_The thick yet thin and cold but hot liquid quickly reached my shoulders, and I felt like shrieking as the tingling, burning sensation spread to more and more of my body._

_"__So don't forget: The door will be opened."_

_The black substance reached my nose, and I clenched my eyes shut as it rose higher and higher._

_Before it started to pass over my eyes and after that the rest of my head, I thought back to what the voice had said earlier, and I couldn't help but wonder…_

_How could I __not __be afraid?_


	2. The Storm

***laughs nervously and waves* ...Um, hello? In all honesty you should thank Dark-Momento-Mori over at devianART since the crossovers she's holding with her KH fancomic is what got me back into writing this.**

**Anyway, as you'll see Kaen is not only extremely protective but pretty easy to piss off.**

**And, well, ****_goodbye _****Destiny Islands! X'D**

**Kingdom Hearts rightfully belongs to Square Enix and Disney, and I only own the original characters/content shown within this story.**

* * *

"**_HEY, KAEN!_**_"_

I stifled a shriek and instinctively jumped away from the loud noise. My body pitched to the side, and it didn't take long for me to realize I'd taken my nap on the horizontally-bent paopu tree on the tiny side island.

In spit of my pride -and _un_-girlishness- I let out a high-pitched scream of fear and surprise before falling into the water with a rather unceremonious splash. My head quickly broke through the surface as I coughed out salty liquid, my slightly pinkish-red hair sticking to the front of my face.

Riku's laughter reached my ears from the top of the steep mini-island -maybe a story or so tall and only twenty or thirty feet in diameter- and anger quickly pooled in my gut.

"_DAMMIT, RIKU!" _I screamed up at him, face burning as I pushed my hair back. His laughter loudened, and I glared at him through the earth.

I ground my teeth and started to trudge towards the shore, deciding it was worth avoiding His Silver-Headed Jerkass by not climbing the ladder on the back of the side island.

Sora and Kairi were both on the beach of the play island already, and for a second pieces of my dream flickered into my mind – them on the beach, Riku getting caught in a tsunami, stained glass platforms.

All of it getting harder and harder to remember.

I frowned as I stepped onto the sand, grimacing when the water in my white shoes made them squishy. The two stared at me for a moment, struggling to keep their faces straight. Sora smiled wryly, and I narrowed my eyes at him in warning before he could even start.

"So," he said, standing up and absentmindedly brushing sand off of his goofy red shirt/shorts..._thing._ He grinned goofily at me as he stepped backwards next to Kairi. "Do _you _remember what your hometown was like?"

My lip twitched and I stifled a groan, rubbing my temple.

Nine years ago, when Kairi was five and I was six, we'd arrived at Destiny Islands. No warning, no dramatic entrance, we were just... _there. _The townspeople asked us where we'd come from, who we were, where our parents were – anything and everything fretting adults would wonder about two little girls who'd come out of nowhere.

But, the thing was, we _didn't _know. We still don't.

No matter how many questions peopled asked, it didn't change anything. We knew our names, each other's names, and the fact we were friends. But other then that? Absolutely nothing.

Our Dad –the mayor– adopted us since he was one of the few who was not only willing to take care of us, but take care of _both_ of us. We'd spent more than a few days pretending to be asleep so we could stay up and listen to Mom freak out over his brash decision.

It wasn't long until her maternal instincts kicked in and she started taking part in the coddling, of course, but there's something _really _entertaining about listening to someone screeching like a banshee when you're little.

And that was that. We had parents, we became best-friends with Sora and Riku, and we never looked back at our unknown past.

That didn't stop anyone _else_, though.

Our parents were worried we might not ever remember, or that it might get _worse_. Sora and Riku hadn't stopped pestering us about where we came from, and for months they dragged us around to every nook and cranny on the islands to see if we remembered anything.

Needless to say, it was a dead end. But they didn't leave it at that, and soon enough it became obvious that _they_ were the only ones who wanted to know where we came from.

And, once they realized we weren't from here, they came to the conclusion that we came from a different _world_. I wasn't sure how, exactly, but after a while we all wound up believing it.

Riku even got us into building a raft over the summer that we could use to travel to other worlds. I didn't really believe it, but there was no way I was going to let my sister do something so stupid without me with her.

I sighed and glowered at Sora, trying to flip my too-long fringe out of my face. "What by 'we don't remember _anything_' do you not understand?"

Kairi giggled and halfheartedly told me to be nicer while Sora kept going through his usual interrogation.

"Do you ever-"

"Want to go back?" I finished dryly, and he nodded energetically, raising his hands like a giddy child. "No. My home is here, and that's all that matters."

"Is that why you weren't working on the raft?" my head whipped to the side and I glared at Riku, who only laughed. He tossed the log he was carrying over his shoulder to Sora, who fell back down on the sand in his fumbling attempt to try and catch it.

"What about you?" he nodded his head towards Kairi. "You're just as lazy as they are!"

She giggled and smiled at him, while I didn't stop burning holes into his head. "So you noticed."

I huffed and gave her a look, but her smile only widened. Riku sat down on next to Sora, and I almost moved to do the same until I remembered that –oh, _yeah_–he'd made me fall into the water just for shits and giggles.

I resisted the urge to smack him over the head, and I could swear he smirked.

"I'll race you!" Kairi cheered suddenly, and I jumped in surprise.

"Oh, for the love of– _Kairi,_" I sighed and slapped my palm against my forehead.

"Huh?" Sora turned to look up at her confusion.

"What, are you kidding?" Riku said in exasperation, and I felt my mouth twitch at the fact we shared the same opinion. Damn it.

"Ready?" she called, and various curses flew through my head. "Go!"

The two boys looked at each other for a second, before jumping to their feet and running off. I sputtered at their competitiveness before grabbing Kairi's wrist and rushing after them.

"H-Hey!" Kairi said, laughing as she stumbled after me. "Slow down!"

"Prissy!" I called back, grinning when I saw Sora slump in defeat as he lost to Riku. Then I remembered I was supposed to be pissed at him, and scowled.

"Tomboy!" she countered.

I rolled my eyes and let go of her wrist, smiling. "You know you love me," I cooed, reaching out to ruffle her dark red hair.

"Are you two done yet?" Riku crossed his arms, leaning against the door to the other side of the play island.

I snorted, and struggled to keep my face straight when I realized he was being jealous. Again. That boy really needed to ignore that crush of his if he didn't have the courage to tell Kairi.

True, Sora hadn't either, but _he_ was so thick-headed I doubted he even knew he liked her.

Kairi giggled and shrugged sheepishly. "I guess,"

Riku rolled his eyes, though I was betting it was more because of me than my sister. "Whatever," he said, walking off. "You guys can work on getting supplies. I'm building the raft."

I felt my eyebrows slowly rise to my hairline as he stalked off. Since when was he so dismissive?

"So," Kairi said, grinning at me mischievously before turning to Sora. "Can you gather the rest of the supplies? Sora, are you listening to me?"

He nodded, rapt, and my mouth twitched up. "Yeah, I heard you."

"Okay," she said, and I clamped a hand over my mouth to keep from laughing. "Here's what you need to go find – two logs, a cloth, and some rope,"

"Bring everything back here," she ordered, pointing at the ground by our feet. "If you need help, just ask. I'm counting on you!"

He grinned, waving over his shoulder as he walked off. As soon as he was out of earshot, I burst out laughing and leaned against the door frame.

Kairi sent me a look, and I smiled widely.

"Counting on him to do all your work, you mean." I said, raising my eyebrows in a faux innocent expression. She started laughing as she sat down next to my legs, crossing her legs.

"Hey," she giggled. "It's your work too."

I couldn't help but let out a laugh. "I never said I was complaining!"

* * *

"_Pssst,_"

I stared at the shadow-covered wall for an extra second before turning my head, squinting to focus on Kairi's face as she looked down at me from the top bunk. The wooden frame was pressing into her cheek awkwardly while her necklace nearly slipped off her head.

"Can I talk to you?" she whispered, and I was too tired to ask her why she wanted to talk _now _of all times. I blinked sluggishly at her, and she smiled a bit before scrambling down and slipping under my blanket

I stifled a yawn and rolled over, keeping my eyes half-lidded so I wouldn't wake up too much. I shuffled back against the wall so she'd have room, and she scooted further onto the bed.

"Hey, Kaen," Kairi folded her arm under her head, peering at me curiously.

"What?" I said, resisting the urge to rub at my eyes. Our parents had started sending us to bed earlier so adjusting for school'd be easier, but once the drowsiness went away the first time it wouldn't come back until hours later.

"...Do you think it'll work?" her tone became unusually somber, and I felt like poking her face just to see her smile again. "The raft?"

"Of course it'll work," I sighed, reaching up to flick her nose. She cracked a smile for a second before it fell again.

"Not– Not the raft. I mean," she took a shuddery breath, fiddling with her white-bead pendant. When she looked away from me, I saw her mouth quiver and I felt my heart crumble. "What if we get separated? What if we don't _remember?_"

I took a deep breath and scowled, flicking her forehead. "_Stop it." _I hissed sternly. "Whether we get to another world or not, we'll be fine _– _we'll be _together. _We have been since we were kids, and chances are we always will be. They're our best-friends, you're my sister. Do you really think any of us will forget? That any of us will be _able _to?"

"No," Kairi's lips twitched, and after a moment she gave up and let herself smile. "Gimme a second,"

She rolled out of bed and quickly climbed back into her bunk before coming back down, plopping onto the covers.

"Here," she held her hand out to me, and when I grabbed whatever it was she was giving me I felt my eyebrows rise.

At first I thought it was just the purple choker I always wore, but then a small bead dropped down, the string it was on tied to either half of the clasp.

"Why's it pink?" I wondered aloud, already propping myself on my elbow to put it on. The bead reminded me of the one on Kairi's necklace, though mine was an off-white, reddish-pink color

It reminded me of a rose, really.

"Why not?" Kairi giggled, flicking my bangs pointedly. I pouted at her before sticking my tongue out. "Besides, this way you'll always have something to remind you of me."

I scowled and sat up to look her in the eye. "_Kairi,_" I said icily. "I _told _you_–_"

There was a faint rumble of a thunderstorm in the distance, and my sister went from opening her mouth to protest to jumping to her feet and throwing open the dresser drawers.

"What the hell are you_–_" suddenly I had clothes thrown into my lap while Kairi herself started changing out of her pajamas.

"The raft!" she answered in a panic, pulling on her skirt.

My eyes widened and I swore, throwing off my nightclothes and yanking on my shirts _– _even if I wasn't stupid enough to go out in this storm, I also knew Kairi was too stubborn to _not _go out.

Not even a minute later and she was running out of our room, and I had to slip my shoes on while hopping after her just to make sure she didn't go off without me.

And I _knew_ she would.

* * *

"Kairi!" I grabbed her arm the second we stepped foot onto the play island. "We have to head back!"

Yes, we could hardly see since it was nighttime, and yes, it was dangerous, but it certainly wasn't the worst thing going on. Hovering high above any of the giant trees and standing out even in the darkness, was a_– _a giant... _orb _of shadows.

Suddenly I remembered parts of my dream, how thatblack _thing_ had thrown around masses of purplish energy. But this? This was worse. So, _so_ much worse.

It was at least twenty feet in diameter, with a bright orange core that was visible through the fucking _writhing_ black tendrils that covered its surface. And, even though it had a faint glow, all the light it gave off didn't shine on anything _but _the sphere.

It freaked the hell out of me, but more than that it made me scared because my_ baby sister _was out here with it.

"No!" she shook out of my grasp and glared at me defiantly. "We need to get the raft!"

"_Screw the raft!_" I shouted, grabbing her by the shoulders. "I'm keeping you safe!"

Kairi jerked backwards, ripping my hands off, and shoved me back. "Let me take care of myself!"

And she ran.

"Kairi!" I kicked off after her, the hysteria only making me go faster even though my feet kept catching on each other.

"_Kairi!_" I screamed, feeling my throat tighten as I made it to the other side of the island without seeing a trace of her.

Oh, God...

She_–_She _had _to be okay...

"**_KAIRI!_**" spots filled my vision and I fell to the ground, coughing and hacking until I felt I might vomit. The world spun and I placed my head between my eyes, sobs coming from my chest. I gagged and straightened, covering my mouth with my hand and forcing my breathing to slow. I had to_– _I _needed_ to focus.

For Kairi.

I swallowed and stumbled back to the other side of the island, looking around for any trace of my sister.

"_Kairi!_" I tried to shout for her again, but my throat protested and I wound up coughing into my hand.

I blinked rapidly and widened my eyes a bit, looking for anything in the darkness beyond the yellow lights-

Wait, _lights?_

I swallowed and focused on the pair of orbs, a pit growing in my stomach when I noticed the shadowy figure the– the _eyes_ belonged to.

Oh my_–_

_They were– They were those _things_ from my dream._

My heart thudded in my ears, and while my mind told me to _run_ all my body did was freeze. What the hell _were_ these things? How had I_–_

It lunged.

A scream stuck in my throat, but I _couldn'tmovecouldn'tthink_ while the claws just got closer and_–_

Something metallic flashed in the low lighting, and the thing dissipated into shadowy wisps like it had in my dream.

"Kaen!" someone shook my shoulders, and I realized I'd zoned out and blinked rapidly.

"What the_– Sora?_" vaguely I recalled seeing another boat, but I couldn't help when my brow furrowed in confusion.

He had this weird sword thing in his hand, only the guard was really big and, well, at the blunt end there was a portrusion that made it look like a _key_.

An odd key, yes, but a key nonetheless.

A key that could take out those things.

"Wait a minute, if _you're_ here," Sora said slowly, finger raising to point at me as an expression of dawning realization came across. "Then where's Kairi?"

"I _don't know_, okay?" I shouted suddenly, tears burning my eyes. I threw my arm out and swallowed, trying hard not to cry. "She just _ran off_ on me!"

I raised a hand to my forehead and worked on slowing my breathing.

"Well, we just gotta find her," he reasoned, ever the optimistic one.

I glowered down at him, and he just shrugged. "Idiot," I grumbled, looking away.

"Hey_–_" he was already starting to complain, but stopped himself when he suddenly shoved into me.

I stumbled backwards, ready to curse Sora out –Kairi may have not approved, but hey, she had her life and I had mine

– when I fell down, only to feel my throat close as he sliced through another one of those monsters.

_Oh_.

I got to my feet and brushed off my jeans, smiling shakily at him – the closest thing I'd ever really gotten to saying a real thank you to anyone outside of my family.

Besides, I was so nervous I'd doubted anything I said would make any sense even if I did try to talk.

As much as I hated it –and yes, hate was the right word– that key/sword seemed to be the only thing that could get rid of those creatures.

Which meant, _of course_, that I was useless. Ignoring the weight in my gut, I started to walk past Sora when he held his arm out.

"Maybe I should go first?" he grinned and raised the sword pointedly.

"Yeah, right," I muttered bitterly, glaring at the ground as he led the way, nails biting into my skin from how hard I was clenching my fists.

_How are you supposed to protect anyone if you can't protect yourself?_

* * *

We made another lap around the island –buildings included– without finding anything except more homicidal shadows.

Sora was a little less energetic while I, on the other hand, felt like having a breakdown. And _that_ was without even thinking of the worst-case scenarios.

"Where the _hell_ is she?!" I shouted, slamming my foot down so hard pain shot up my leg.

"Oh, come on Kaen, I'm sure we'll find her," he grinned, before blinking and grinning even wider.

"I've got it!" he said, and I barely realized he'd grabbed my wrist until I heard a few splashes and my feet entered cold water.

"_Holy_– Sora!" I snapped, yanking my wrist free and glaring at him. Now was not the time to be going into the pool of water, especially now..

"The Secret Place!" he called back at me, running through the shallow water.

I stared at him for a second, stunned, before hurrying after him. The Secret Place was a small cave Sora and Riku found when they were little, right by the mini-waterfall and the pool it formed.

It'd also be the perfect place to go to wait out something like this.

I ducked under the waterfall and for a second the nostalgia made me forget what was going on. Then I saw Kairi at the back, pale and looking like she'd pass out at any second.

"_Kai_–" I hurried forward, ready to help her, when a strong wind suddenly blew through the cavern.

It whipped my hair and clothes against my skin, and even when I brought my arms up to block it it still brought tears to my eyes. I could vaguely recall Sora move to catch Kairi, but it was hard to be sure as the gales quickly increased and actually threw me off my feet.

With how dark it was I had no idea whether I'd blacked out or not, but the lack of memory regarding exactly what happened made it pretty apparent.

I cracked my eyes open, instantly noticing the bright red of Sora's clothes. I sat up and looked around, my breath catching in my throat when I didn't see Kairi anywhere.

I stumbled to my feet and–

_Oh my god..._

"_Sora!_" I screamed, getting behind him as I stared at the giant, shadow-turned-_monster_ from my dream towering over us.

It slammed its hand down, shaking the ground beneath our feet, and just like before the smaller creatures started to crawl out of the pool of energy.

Sora didn't move.

"Go for the hands!" I shouted, shoving him forward encouragingly.

"But–" I nearly swore at him when I realized he wasn't going _because of me._

"_Just do it_!" I pushed him again, glaring. "I can take care of myself!"

The second the words left my mouth my throat closed and I felt sick to my stomach.

_"Let me take of myself!"_

For years and years I'd tried to do everything on my own, making sure to watch out for Kairi while keeping her from looking out for me.

She'd...

She only wanted me not to worry about her so much, to– to stand up _on her own_ like I always did, and yet...

"Look out!" Sora's voice snapped my out of my trance, and I jumped backwards just as one of the creatures slashed its claws through the air where I'd been standing.

"Just keep slashing!" I called back without looking, kicking the thing away by its head.

It... jiggled a bit, actually, kind've like jello. Honestly if it wasn't for how they kept trying claw me I'd probably find it cute.

Then the giant reared back up, slouching backwards, and Sora quickly ran around killing off the rest of the could've-been-cute-if-they-weren't-homicidal things.

As the giant started gathering energy in its heart-shaped hole, I readied myself to start running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

"Go for the hands, right?" Sora repeated, twirling his key-thing around before gripping it with both of his hands again.

"Yup," I sighed, and not even a second after he headed off I was already ducking and weaving like some dancer.

I yelped and stumbled backwards as one of the orbs flew past my face, and when I spared I glance towards Sora as he fought the giant, I realized it had just... stopped.

The energy had died down, and while it was still on its feet it almost seemed _limp_. Sora looked at me in confusion, and right after I shrugged it began to fall.

He turned to look at it, jogging backwards away from it, when more wind tousled my hair and the thing was pulled up into the air like it weighed nothing.

Sora whirled around to look at me, and I barely had time to see him start to lift of the ground when a strong gale propelled my off my feet.

The world spun as I did, making me dizzy, but it stopped when I slammed into something soft and I heard Sora let out an _Oof!_

We tumbled around, ramming into the ground a few times even as the wind kept pulling as upward. Vaguely I could see him grab onto something still stuck in the ground, and I shot my hands out to grasp his leg.

A sudden chill that had nothing to do with the excessive wind around us went down my spine when I saw the plank Sora was holding into jerk upwards.

"_Hold on!_" Sora called, and while I could barely hear him I still tried to make my grip more firm.

"_No shit!_" I shouted, feeling how we were being pulled into the air even without looking at the angle we were at.

Ever part of me stung, whether it was from the cold or the wind or my clothes, and I had trouble keeping my eyes open.

"_Sor_–" I started, when he jerked suddenly and my hands were ripped off of his ankle.

Not even a second later and I could hardly see him anymore, twisting and turning so fast I felt sick while the wind roared in my ears so loud I could barely tell that I was screaming.

Then I saw Sora being flung away from the ground just as I had been, the board of wood nowhere in sight.

And everything went black.


End file.
